Reality Show leaves a bad taste in the mouth

Reality show The X Factor has been criticised over claims producers encouraged a teenage contestant from Bridgend to play up the town’s spate of suicides.

Alexandra Davies, 17, from Litchard, Bridgend, was seen on Saturday’s ITV show being voted through to the next round for her performance of Eva Cassidy’s Fields of Gold.

Shortly before she appeared on the programme, viewers heard host Dermot O’Leary introduce her with the words: “Alex’s hometown of Bridgend had bad press recently after a shocking spate of youth suicides. She’s hoping that success today might provide some welcome good news for a town that’s been living under a cloud.”

Immediately afterwards, while talking straight to camera, Alex said: “Because of all the bad press that Bridgend has had recently I just think that getting through would be a good bit of news that we need. Today is a big deal, this is where my confidence needs to deliver and I can prove to myself that I can do this.”

But Alex last night revealed that the references to the suicide were invented after pressurised questioning about the suicides from the show’s producers. “They thought that up when I said I was from Bridgend,” she said. “The producers wanted me to talk about it but I didn’t want to, just in case I offended someone’s family.”

In recent years, talent shows have become synonymous with stories of personal achievement and heartache.

But Saturday’s remarks, aired on prime-time television, angered many in the Bridgend area who think the tragic series of deaths has been mentioned for the benefit of entertainment.